Method of working uppers over lasts.



R. F. MCFEELY. METHOD 0F WORKING UPPERS OVER LASTS.

APPLICATION FILED [150.11.1915.

PatentedJulylI; 1916. i

SHEET l.

3 SHEETS- R. F. McFEELY.

METHOD 0F WORKING UPPERS OVER LASTS.

APPLICATION man nEc.11.19|5.

, 1,189,980. Patented July 4,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

R. F. MCFEELY. Y f

METHOD 0F WORKING UPPERS OVER LASTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.II. IsIs.

1 ,1 89,980, Patented July 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

uw Namen persas no., :mom-uma Msnmrmw. a cv UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RONALD F. MCFEELY, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO` UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF WORKING UPPERS OVER LASTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application led July 30, 1.912, Serial No. 710,669. Divided and this application iiled December 11, 1915.y Serial No. 66,319.

T o all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, RONALD F. MGFEELY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Methods of Working Uppers Over Lasts, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and more particularly to methods of making shoes, this application being a division of my application Ser. No. 710,669. The present method is herein illustrated for the purpose of explanation as an improvement upon the methods of making shoes described in United States Letters Patent No. 1,135,953, granted on my application April 13,1915.

I have discovered that in lasting the toe portion of a shoe improved results are 'obtained by tensioning the upper from the corners of the toe forwardly and outwardly in diverging directions. This spreads the toe portion of the upper and enables the toe to be lasted more smoothly than if the upper is tensioned straight forwardly. In oneof its aspects, therefore, the invention includes gripping the toe portion of an upper at a plurality of points including the corners of the toe, relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to draw the upper from the corners of the toe forwardly and outwardly in diver-ging directions and then maintaining the upper under outdrawing tension in such directions while wiping the upper inwardly over the margin of the lastl bottom around the toe.

It is advantageousto equalize the pull at the two corners of the toe to compensate for unsymmetrical shapes of the two sides of the toe of the last and also to allow variation in the relative extents of forward and of outward pull at each corner of the toe in accordance with the resistance offered by the stock to stretching in those directions. I have also found that smooth lasting is facilitated by moving the corner gripping means inwardly to give upstock to the wiping means, but at a rate to maintain the upper under tension at the corners of the toe while being wiped into lasted position.

The invention will now be more fully explained with the. aid of the accompanying drawings in which the method is illustrated,

-3 shows the toe being embraced by theV wipers.` Fig. 4l shows thetoe wiped upwardly to the edge of thelast bottom by the ;toe embracing wipers while the gripped portions of the upper at the corners of the toe lare held spread and outdrawn upwardly. 'Fig'. 5 shows thetoe being wiped inwardly over the margin of thelastbottoin while `maintaining theiupper under outdrawing tension forwardly and upwardly and giving up stock for the wiping-in operation by moving the gripped portions inwardly as required. Fig. 6 lshows the final inward wiping of the toe to fully lasted position after the upper has been freed fromtlie gripping means. Fig. 7 shows a plan view of the forepart of the shoe after the completion of the described operation, the toe .portion of the upper being secured in lasted position by a binding wire. Figs. 8 and 9 show, respectively, perspective and sectional views of mechanism with the aid of which this invention has been successfully practised. Full illustration and description Patented July 4., 1916.

Fig. 2 shows a section through of this mechanism, together with the claims to the novel features thereof, are to be found in my said earlier application.

In the drawings,the work comprises an innersole 1 assembled with an upper 2 on a last 3. The shoe is shown in Fig. 1 at that stage of its manufacture at which it has been pulled over, as for example by mechanism 'illustrated in Fig. 8, and the upperV fastened to the innersole at the sides of the ball by tacks 4.

In carrying out this invention the toe pori tion of the upper is seized at both corners of the toe. This may be done by grippers 5 which may comprise one or two pairs of jaws at each corner of the toe. The grip.

pers are shown as the front grippers of a combined pulling-over and lasting machine by which the pulling over of the shoe and the fastening of the sides of the upper by the tacks a is performed as well as the toe lasting operation, although it will be understood that this invention is not concerned with any mechanism and may be practised by hand or with the aid of hand tools.

The corners of the toe aie updi'awn by a relative movement between the grippers 5 and a sole rest 6. In the machine referi'ed to the last is depressed by the sole rest G after the grippers have seized the upper, and the grippers are also upraised by an updraw lever 7 which is made in two parts 7 and 8, yieldingly connected by a spring 9. The grippers are connected to the yielding part 8 of the lever by oints that permit each gripper to have freedom of movement. The lever is fulcrumed at 11 and has a movable connection by latch 10 with an operating cam. The arrangement, as fully disclosed in said earlier application, is such that the cam and connections depress the grippers to upper receiving positions and open the jaws, through connections not necessary here to describe, and then cause the jaws to close before the grippei's are raised again for updrawing the upper.

The outdiaw-ing of the corners of the upper is eected, and is made to take place in diverging directions inclined forwardly and outwardly, by moving the grippers 5 in substantially the directions indicated by the arrows located at the corners of the toe in Fig. l. As shown, each gripper bar has a ball and socket connection at its upper end with an equalizer which carries the two corner grippers as shown in Fig. 8 and allows the different extents of upward movement for the two corner grippers to compensate for the unsymmetrieal shapes of the two sides of the toe of a last. Each gripper is guided in an oblique slot in a guide plate as shown in Figs. 8 and i) with provision for soinelateral play so that the gripper can turn in the slot while it is pulling the upper. Each gripper bar has also a link or strut connection l5 with a stud 16 on the lower end of a swinging bar 1S. The bar isA suspended from a rigid portion of the upd raw lever 7 and is swung forwardly as it rises by an inclined slot 22 in a yieldingly mounted guide 24. This forward movement of'bar 18 and diverging links l5 pushes the grippers forwardly and outwardly, causing the upper at the corners of the toe to be pulled in the diverging directions shown in Fig. l, the toe end of the upper being consequently spread widthwise between one corner gripper and the other. Suicient forward pulling of the middle of the toe is effected by pulling the corners of the toe as described. The mounting of the grippers with provision to turn on their suspending balls and to play in their guides allows the relative extents of forward and of outward pull applied to the upper to vary in accordance with the resistance offered by the stock to stretching in those directions.

lVhile the upper is held 'under updrawing and outdrawing tension at the coi-ners of the toe as described and thereby spread at the end of the toe the upper is gathered in 75 wardly around the toe and wiped over the margin of the last bottom. The described pulling of the upper renders it smooth and by engaging it, as for example with suitably operated toe embracing wipers 30, on a line that is free from wrinkles and wiping it over the edge of the last bottom while maintaining suitable tension it can be smoothly lasted. I have shown the upper as engaged first by the wipers below the plane of the last bottom and wiped upwardly to that plane, and in making welt and liclay shoes this is preferable. It is not absolutely necessary, however, and in making turn slices in which the sole projects outside the 9g edge of the last bottom and renders an effective upward wipe difficult to secu 1e, good results are obtained by closing the wipers above the plane of the sole if the upper is properly tensioned and held under tension until the upper has been gathered in to and wiped over the edge of the sole. This action on an upper held under tension in the de scribed outdrawn condition at the corners of the toe involves bending the upper inwardly 19g, and before the wiping-in can be completed it is usually necessary to give up stock from the gripping means to the wiping means to avoid tearing the upper. @ne way in which I have satisfactorily accomplished this is to move the grippers while retaining control of the upper by continuing to hold it in the gripp'ers. In the illustrated apparatus for practising the invention the latch l0 is connected to a foot-treadle 32 by which the 110 latch can be moved into a position to allow the updraw lever to descend a short distance which is limited by a slot 3l. As the grippers descend, by reason of the stress of the stock and relax the updrawing pull, they are held outward by the reaction of the spring in outdraw guide 2li, and thereby maintain the upper outdrawn while the iiiward wiping is continued. The upper may be freed from the grippers before the eom- 12e pletion of the lasting, if desired, by a further depression' of the treadle 32 which operates connections to grip releasing latches 36 on the gripper carriers. The upper may be secured in lasted position bv a binding wire as shown in Fig. 7, the side tacks 4L being used to anchor the ends of the binder.

Having explained the nature of the in- .Vention and how it may be practised, l claim 1g@ as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States l. That improvement in methods of malring shoes which consists in assembling an upper on a last, independently gripping theA toe portion of the upper at more than two points, including points at the two corners of the toe, relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to draw the gripped portions of the upper ff'om the corners of the toe of the last forwardly and outwardly in diverging directions to spread the toe of the upper and produce a forwardly tensioned andl unwrinkled condition of the upper from one side of the toe around the end and corners of the toe to its other side and then maintaining the upper under outdrawing tension in the specified directions while wiping the upper inwardly over the margin of the last bottom around the toe.

2. That improvement in methods of mak-V ing shoes which consists in assembling an upper on a last, gripping the toe portion of the upper at a plurality of points including the corners of thetoe, relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to updraw the upper from the corners of the toe simultaneously in forwardly and outwardly diverging directions to spread the toe of the upper and prepare it in unwrinkled condition for lasting around the Vtoe of the last, and then wiping the upper inwardly be'- tween the corner gripping means and the margin of the last bottom while moving the gripping means inwardly at a rategto maintain the upper under tension across the wipers at the corners of the toe while beingwiped into lasted position. y

3. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in seizing an upper at the corners of the toe and pulling it in directions to updraw it and outdraw it to spread the toe of the upper, embracing the shoe around the toe on a substantially continuous line and holding the upper spread and outdrawn upwardly across the edge of the embracing means while wiping the upper inwardly over the bottom of the toe and simultaneously giving up the stock as the upper is wiped in.

et. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in seizing an upper at the corners of the toe and pulling it in directions to spread the toe of the upper, embracing the shoe around the toe on a substantially continuous line, wiping the upper upwardly to the edge of the toe and then inwardly over the bottom of the toe while holding the upper tensioned outwardly'and upwardly and moving the holding means inwardly to give up the stock for the wiping-in operation as required to permit the completion of that operation.

That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in seizing an upper portions of the upper stock inwardly as required to permit the wiping-in operation to iff proceed with the tension. y

6. rlhat improvement in methods of malring shoes which consists in seizing the toe portion of an upper at more than two points including points at the two corners of the toe and pulling the upper ,forwardly and upwardly in diverging directions from each corner, the points at which the upper is seized being so located in a line surrounding the toe that when the upper is pulled as specified it will be stretched smoothly over the toe of the last7 then embracing the upper on a continuous uninterrupted line around the toe andigathering the upper inwardly around thertoe ofthe last and wiping it over the last bottom whilemaintaining such a forwardly and outwardly tensioned and spread condition in the upper as to enable the upper to be gathered and wiped smoothly into lasted position over the edge of the shoe bottom.

7 That improvement in methodsA of making shoes which consists in assembling an upper on arlast, gripping the toe portion of upper spread under the upper at a plurality of points including` the corners of the toe, and relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to pull the upper at the gripping points forwardly and laterally outwardly, the relative extents of forward and of outward pull being varied in accordance with the resistance offered by the stock to stretching in those directions.

8. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in assembling an upper on a last, gripping the toe portion of the upper at a plurality of points including the corners of thie toe, relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to pull the upper at Ythe gripping points forwardly and laterally outwardly, the relative extents of forward and of outward pull beinfr varied in accordance with the resistance 0in-ered by the stock to stretching in those directions7 and then maintaining the upper under tension in the specified directions while wiping the upper inwardly over the margin of the last bottom around the toe.

lli)

9. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in assembling an upper on a last, gripping the toe portion of the upper at a plurality of points including the corners of the toe, and relatively moving the gripped portions and the last to pullthe upper from the corners of the toe forwardly and laterally outwardly in diverging directions while equalizing the extents of movement at the two Corners of the toe to Compensate for the unsymnietrieal shapes of the two sides of the toe of the last.

l0. That improvement in methods of making shoes which Consists in assembling an upper on a last, gripping the toe portion of the upper at a plurality of points includingthe corners of the toe7 relatively movingl the gripped portions and the last to pull the upper from the corners of the toe forwardly and laterally outwardly in diverginjgdirections while equalizing the extents of movement at the two Corners of the toe to oompensate for the unsymmetrioal shapes of the two sides of the toe of the last, and then maintaining; the upper under tension in the speeilied directions while wiping` the upper inwardly over the margin of the last around the toe.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification.

RONALD F. MGFEELY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents cach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenti. Washington, D. C. 

